Calvin on the Gospel as Our Soul Anchor

I use John Calvin’s (1509-64) commentaries almost week every during my sermon preparation. In a way that is, perhaps, surprising to some, his commentaries are extremely pastoral, full of consideration for the people in the pew, to “build them up” (cf. 1 Cor. 14:26). Calvin does get into some of the technical aspects of biblical exegesis, but that is only because of the Bible’s great linguistic, historical, and thematic depth. If you want to know the Bible, get ready to go deep. Calvin’s commentaries provide my favorite example of the right exegetical and pastoral balance. Hence there have been some weeks where I step away saying, “Can I just stand up Sunday and read this for my message?” There are also some weeks where I disagree with his conclusions (and this happens to be one of those weeks.) 

But a couple of weeks ago I was preparing to preach Hebrews 6:19, where the biblical author mentions that our Christian hope is a “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.” I highlighted this lengthy Calvin quote because I thought it so stunningly depicted the contents both of the struggles of this life and the hope we have in Jesus. Hopefully the passage is a blessing to you:

It is a striking likeness when he compares faith leaning on God’s word to an anchor; for doubtless, as long as we sojourn in this world, we stand not on firm ground, but are tossed here and there as it were in the midst of the sea, and that indeed very turbulent; for Satan is incessantly stirring up innumerable storms, which would immediately upset and sink our vessel, were we not to cast our anchor fast in the deep. For nowhere a haven appears to our eyes, but wherever we look water alone is in view; yea, waves also arise and threaten us; but as the anchor is cast through the waters into a dark and unseen place, and while it lies hid there, keeps the vessel beaten by waves from being overwhelmed; so must our hope be fixed on the invisible God. 

There is this difference—the anchor is cast downwards into the sea, for it has the earth as its bottom; but our hope rises upwards and soars aloft, for in the world it finds nothing on which it can stand, nor ought it to cleave to created things, but to rest on God alone. As the cable also by which the anchor is suspended joins the vessel with the earth through a long and dark intermediate space, so the truth of God is a bond to connect us with himself, so that no distance of place and no darkness can prevent us from cleaving to him. Thus when united to God, though we must struggle with continual storms, we are yet beyond the peril of shipwreck.